Report: Law Firms Donated $15 Million to Democrat Groups After Receiving Government Contracts 

A group of eight law firms donated $15 million to Democrat organizations after receiving funds from government contracts, according to a report by Alliance for Consumers.

Lieff Cabraser, Motley Rice, Baron & Budd, Grant & Eisenhofer, Berger Montague, Cohen Milstein, and Simmons Hanly make up the “shady eight” law firms who donated millions to Democrats. These firms represent local governments in litigation or have statewide contracts “in places like Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Mexico, and New Jersey.”

These “Shady Eight” firms generated at least $15 million in combined political donations from 2017-2020 to committees and candidates in the Federal Election Commission (FEC) tracking system. That is the total given by the firms directly, their 1,300 or so combined lawyers, and other employees and staff.

Of these $15 million in political donations, a massive 99 percent of combined contributions went to Democrat campaigns and allied political committees. For example, a mere $30 was donated to Republican candidates or committees at the law firm Lieff Cabraser during the three-year timeframe.

About 40% of the money (approximately $6 million) went to the political committees that form the professionalized superstructure of the Democratic Party.

Over $4 million of the money generated by the Shady Eight went to the Biden Presidential campaign effort and the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

Over $4 million flowed into Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) that supports them. And over $2 million went to Democratic candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) that bolsters those candidates.

The report also criticized the government contracts the law firms earned for “missing basic protections that should be in all outside-counsel contracts.

The contracts often have no expiration date or clear language tying the engagement to a particular defendant or case.

The contracts rarely include appropriate conflicts protection, even though trial lawyers often represent multiple governments that may have very different interests in the same case.

According to the report, “The contracts usually fail to require that the trial lawyers provide the best pricing terms that the lawyers are offering to any other governmental client on the same matter.”